Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Continued Religious Violence

A
recent discussion on Facebook centered on whether or not religion is
responsible for violence.The context,
naturally, is the mass murders in Paris magazine office perpetuated by Muslim
terrorists, but could refer to 9/11 or any other multiple outrages around the
world.

Sometimes, the link is obscured.For example, the African group, Boko Haram,
which has kidnapped young women and killed thousands, is actually trying to
impose strict Muslim law, but that aspect is overshadowed by its vicious
actions.

The
simple answer is: no, religion is not responsible for all violence.Just for starters, FBI statistics show that
14,866 murders were committed in the U.S. in 2013.Few of the killers were motivated by
religion.That’s equally true for the
criminals who ran up 1.2 million violent crimes that year.Religion didn’t prompt their unwarranted actions
either.

However,
religion is responsible for violence and has been throughout human history.

Assyrian conquerors

Until
the separation of church and state in the United States, people lived
completely in the embrace of religion.No aspect of life escaped its clutches.No one, not even the most powerful emperor, was immune.When a country was conquered, its citizens
typically accepted the faith of the winners.The invaders' god had to be stronger.

As
a result, when ancient Israel fell to the Assyrians, the erstwhile Jewish residents
assimilated. The 10 tribes weren’t “lost,” but rather incorporated into the new
state and its religion.Judeans about 190
years later were able to retain their beliefs because the conquering Persians
were Zoroastrians, a faith that believes in free will.Free to pick a religion, many Jews stuck with
their ancient faith, allowing it to survive.

Persia
was an exception.Alexander the Great
tried to impose his Greek culture on the lands he overran.The Romans did allow vanquished people to
retain their own religions, but obligated everyone to pray to Roman gods and
emperors.That created some of the
conflict from Jews in the enslaved Judea and their overlords at the time of
Jesus.

Once
Christianity became the sole religion of the dying Roman Empire in the late 4th
century, people of other faiths were ostracized and attacked, religious
buildings burned, and texts destroyed.

Burning heretics

Harassed
non-Christians often buried sacred writing, some of which was buried and finally found over
the last 150 or so years.

Christians
then perfected the art of religious murder by inventing heresy, burning many conveniently identified as heretics, attacking pagan groups in military maneuvers and
persecuting everyone who didn’t accept their creed.

After
the rise of Islam, Muslim leaders did the same thing among the non-Muslim
populations through the Middle East, Africa and Western Europe.The two sides frequently faced off.At times, one invaded the other, such as during
the Crusades, and the subsequent Muslim conquest of Christian Constantinople
and battles outside Vienna, Austria.

Religion
became less of a cause for war in more recent times as the separation of Church
and State has become a more common approach in the West.

Taliban fighters

However,
that’s not true in the Muslim world where religion still dictates.Just a few examples: In Afghanistan, the Taliban want to impose
strict Muslim law.Religious leaders run
Iraq.The king of Saudi Arabia needs
approval from imams before he can take any action affecting his citizens.

As
a result, residents do not understand that, in the West, writers and artists
can and do mock religious ideas without fear of reprisal.Even
the grossest representations, such as crosses in urinals, have been placed in
art museums.Outrage follows along with protests,
but not terrorists’ attacks.So far, the
most-common targets have been abortion clinics and their doctors as religious zealots
without any awareness of the irony try to use violence to end what they claim is violence in the clinics.

Bereft
of an understanding of Western culture, Muslim extremists are trying to
overcome what they see as a relentless Christian attack on their beliefs.They don’t commit random forms of violence,
but rather are lashing out in all directions in a misguided effort to counter
the media tide.

Goldstein

Therefore,
without question, religion is at least a significant cause of violence.Today, most of the terrorists appear to be
Muslim.However, given similar
circumstances, devout Christians and Jews would do the same thing.After all, a pious Jew, Baruch Goldstein, shot
up a Jerusalem mosque in 1994, killing 29 Palestinian Muslims and wounding another
125. In the brief time period in the distant past when Judaism was the dominant
faith, leaders condoned the murder of those who violated its laws and, as the
Bible records, authorized the annihilation of non-Jewish tribes defeated in
battle, such as the Amalekites.

In
Christianity has also fosters killers.As
one example, devout Christian

McVeigh

Timothy McVeigh blew up a federal office building
In Oklahoma City in 1965, killed 168 people.

The
link between religion and violence remains as strong as ever.In fact, religion will continue to engender
violence as long as any faith proclaims itself as the sole bear of truth and the
single avenue to God.Christianity and
Muslim both insist that nonbelievers will suffer in Hell.To prove it, they are busily creating a hell
on Earth for each other and everyone else who gets trapped in the crossfire.

Long-time
religious historian Bill Lazarus regularly writes about religion and religious
history.He also speaks at various
religious organizations throughout Florida.You can reach him at www.williamplazarus.net.He is the author of the famed Unauthorized
Biography of Nostradamus; The Last Testament of Simon Peter; The Gospel Truth: Where Did the Gospel
Writers Get Their Information; Noel:
The Lore and Tradition of Christmas Carols;and Dummies Guide to Comparative
Religion.His books are available on Amazon.com,
Kindle, bookstores and via various publishers.He can also be followed on Twitter.

You
can enroll in his on-line class, Comparative Religion for Dummies, at
http://www.udemy.com/comparative-religion-for-dummies/?promote=1

About Me

During his career, Bill has been a newspaper reporter, magazine writer/editor, advertising copywriter and writer/editor of NASCAR programs, among other jobs. He has won three international awards for stories and programs while working for International Speedway Corp. and was named 2000 Florida Feature Writer of the Year.
He has published four books to date and his writing has appeared in hundreds of local, regional, state and national publications.